Preventing Injury in High School Runners

An innovative approach to keeping young runners on the track

Spring is just around the corner, which means high school track season is just around the corner, which means young runners are about to get hurt. It happens every year: Track season starts. Kids are excited. Training begins. Within six weeks, many who were having the time of their lives are halted by shin splints, IT band syndrome, runner's knee, stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, and on and on.

Want to see a kid who's truly suffering? Find a youngster who just found his calling (running) and a group he could finally gel with (the track team), but who's sidelined by an injury. For the sake of that budding young runner, and his parents and coach, here are my thoughts on why high school runners get injured so often, and what can be done about it. And note: Much of what follows applies to a runner of any age who has an on-again, off-again relationship with her sport.

RUNNING IS A LIFESTYLE

Running isn't a seasonal sport. It's a lifestyle, just like other sports are. A good track coach should first communicate that running should be done frequently and year-round, and should require that approach if possible.

Before you get too uptight about the idea of kids running throughout much of the year, remember that this is exactly what happens in other sports. Football players have spring practice, a weight lifting program through the summer, and "play" football as part of their fun. They even do "two-a-days" in preseason to get ready for the competitive season. No one complains that his future football star has to do all of this to be prepared for "the season," and football coaches readily adjust practice for newcomers and those who didn't prepare properly for the season. The same goes for basketball, soccer, tennis, etc. Kids "play" these sports all the time, not just in season.

Compare this to running, where too many of the participants have done little to no running prior to showing up for the first day of track practice. Why should we be surprised that there are so many injuries in track? The athletes simply aren't prepared for the sport, no matter how simple it appears to be.

If the athlete hasn't done the preparatory work, then either he can't participate because the injury history is too high or the coach and the parent have to accept that he will have to do different training than the better-prepared athletes. Few high school runners underperform because of fitness. Most underperform because of injury or problems dealing with the mental challenges of competition. Just keeping the young runner healthy is all that's necessary. Yes, more training will make her better, and yes, it stinks to get beaten by less talented athletes who can, at the moment, do more training. But a young runner who's unprepared for the team's training is likely to get hurt. Nobody wants to be the fittest spectator at the state meet.

DIVIDE THE TEAM BY FITNESS LEVEL AND INJURY RISK

We need to change the way we coach track (and cross country). In addition to dividing kids up by fitness level for training, coaches need to divide athletes by their injury risk.

For example, if you're a stud athlete who's been active your whole life, runs frequently (just for fun, for training and/or as part of other sports), has great biomechanics and a high fitness level, then you'll be in the fastest, least injured group that will do what might be called the full program of training and racing. If, however, you're a freshman with no history of activity, have questionable biomechanics yet have high natural talent and can already race with the varsity, then you shouldn't always do what the faster, more experienced group does. You will need to do a "partial program," which means you may have to spend as much time on prehabilitation training (core strength, circuit training, cross-training, flexibility, etc.) as you do running. After all, you've proven that you already have a high fitness level, so injury prevention is more important than building fitness.

The key is being prepared for training, and we must accept that many of our athletes simply aren't prepared. The best we sometimes can do is use the track season to build their bodies using all the new information on prehabilitation training for runners, and marry that with the proven old school training idea that you must do three to six months of preparatory training before you're really ready for a great season. Patience doesn't come easily these days, but in running, patience is simply part of the deal.

PARENTAL BUY-IN

I doubt many coaches will argue that better-prepared athletes will have a lower injury risk. Parents, however, also have to accept that their child may have to be held back this track season to ensure he has a great chance at ultimate success throughout the high school runner experience. That means a less talented runner who can simply do more work right now may beat him in races this year, but that's just part of the deal. Once he builds up to handling more work, he'll be on top. But for now, the coach has the responsibility to keep him healthy and building toward not only the spring but his entire running life.